When much needed QoL doesn't fix the game (Short, biased , singular review on CZN features, QoL & gameplay)
After a short but worthwhile period of play time, I dropped CZN again.
While I think the game has an amazing premise, I personally can't see much visible improvements ( In terms of respecting players' time). Here are the issues I think the game faces in offering a casual gaming enviremont for casual gamers:
Much QoL is watered down for the sake of a new roguelite mode (called sortie in-game). It takes a massive amount of time to finish it. More than regular Chaos runs. Also, you choose units from designated draft pool of characters. Therefor, this mode is referred as the "real roguelite mode" (You can get clapped hard here. I think this is a good thing and it should be this way.) Ultimately, it's fun, but I ain't wasting hours for another farming simulator. Hardcore players will likely defend this. IMHO, it's a valid mode. Just add sweeps or options to ease the burden. Players will complain after their sixty-sixth run.
Furthermore, to acquire functioncal decks (not dream decks), you need to play the safe card. Meaning, farming Tier 14+ Chaos manually which takes a heavy toll. Farming otherwise via the free daily quick-playthrough option will punish you. Simply put, your rougelite run will fail midway. You can't intervene.
This leads to an even more flawed consequence: farming Tier 8 to Tier 12 Chaos via quick-playthrough is a nightmare. Divine Epiphanies (= Improved Card Upgrades) actually suck and will drive Faint Memory Points - a hard cap metric on how far you can push your deck - though the roof or will ruin the Epiphanie you are aiming for. Some Divine Epiphanies have useless effects. This goes against the system because they should be a reward, not a punishment by rng.
Well, getting a solid starter deck to improve on later via sortie and deck editing isn't as easy as I thought when I started playing the game anew. I have farmed low-key for weeks for one character and didn't get a solid deck to improve on. That sucks.
If you want to remove basic cards and duplicate upgraded cards later, you will need a limited time-gated currency. (Devs introduced various types of currency for different, designated forms of deck-editing such as removing cards, duplicating cards and so on.) I didn't deem most of the decks I farmed worthy of these.
Now onto the last point: "Fixing" decks via sortie is another time pit and unneeded time sink as already explained. They could have made sortie optional or sweepable. But God forbid it would be easy. It almost feels intentionally. I'd say the Devs are far from having a fully fledged solution.
In conclusion, you still play 90% of the time a deck farming simulator which I personally think is wasted potential. Don't get wrong though, the game IS generous and well-made. Mob and Boss designs are peak. The game just fails to respect my time; or to be more precise, the Devs fail to create an enjoyable, time-efficient space. I don't even want to start rambling on them offering deck-editing currency in bundles. This is an another topic.
Finally, I believe it's possible to create a roguelike game without much hassle or time investment. One of these features are already implented: you can choose which character you want to duplicate cards on. But this isn't enough. Rerolls for card epiphanies could be the much needed QoL, or at least a toggle for Divine epiphanies to not appear on low-tier Chaos. But devs doubled down on introducing another rogue-lite mode instead.
One could argue that some elements of RNG are necessary. Valid point. But not if they introduce another time sink while regular Chaos mode remains unoptimized for deck gathering. Maybe limit rng there and keep exploring out the new mode. However, this mixed bag ain't do it.